Process of treating elaterite.



l J. C. ROSS. PROCESSO? TREATING ELATBRITE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.30,1908.

.n E i5 S Ku SK UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES C. BOSS, F COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO.

. .PROCESS OF TBEATING ELATEBITE.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 14, 1911./

Application led March 80, 19H8. Serial No. 424,042.

' am aware, to subject the elaterite to the distilling action of aretort or other receptacle in which the samel can be heated for thepurpose of gasifying and thereby driving olf the impurities. A productthus obtained lhas been employed'in many ways as a sub stitute forrubber vulcanite, and also for soft rubber, said product possessinerable elasticity and resiliency wh n mixed with sulfur and vulcanizedin the ordinary 1 way. Furthermore, it has proved to be of exceptionalvalue in the electrical arts, as a substitute for the ordinary rubber'or fiber insulation, insulations made from refined or properly treatedelaterite beingpractically fire an water proof.- The process ofobtaining thisproduct by refinement of the elaterite in a retort orother receptacle has, however, been found to be more or less expensive,and in some ways at least not always productive of good results;

After an extended investigation, and' after considerable laboratory andexperimental e work, I have discovered a new process of extracting ormanufacturing' product from elaterite. In practicin m improved process,I first take the crude e aterte and grind it' and pulverize it or reduceit to comminuted form, in any suitable manner. The

elaterite thus prepared is then mixed-with a v suitable quantity ofhydrocarbon or other liquid fuel, and the mixture placed on or in asuitable support. The highly combustible preparation thus formed is thenignited and allowedto burn in a natural manner ulntil the lire goes outand combustion ceases. As soon as this has been done, it will then be.found that all of the undesirable elements' have been consumed anddriven off, leaving only the product in a melted or viscous orsemi-viscous condition. Durin the burning operation no forcing of thecom ustion is necessary, as the elements and roperties which are to bedriven olf are o such character that they burn readily under ordinaryand natural conditions, and are adapted to support combustion Withoutany artificial' conditions. In other words, it 1s simply necessary toignite the mass or mixture, and the.

same then burns naturally and of its own ac-l cord until everythingcombustible in the' elaterite has been driven off, leavi only thedesired product. The elaterite will, I find, burn alone and withoutthe'admixture of hydrocarbon or otherliquid fuel, but for the purpose offacilitating combustion I prefer to practice the process commercially.V

by .using a liquid' fuel that will readily 1 nite. As a result of theburning operation, only the product is left, there being' practically noother solid matter or by-product, everything else having .been consumedto support or aid combustion.

It will be seen, therefore, that my invention is b sed, upon thediscovery that-the burning f*`elat'erite will not burn or' consume thedesired product contained therein-that is to say, 1s based upon thediscov-y ery that the product does not burn or ignite or sufferdeterioration by direct contact with fire orcombustion at a temperatureat which the undesirable elements of the elaterite will readily igniteand burn and be driven olf by combustion in the open air. It will beseen that such a process is entirely diierent from the ordinary processof distillation, through 'the medium of a retort-or still, such as thoseheretofore employed for refining elaterte. M-y process iscomparatively-economical, as

-well as surprisingly effective, beca-use of the fact that it requirespractically no aplparatus, it being only necessary to grind or reak upthe elaterite and mix `it with enough liquid fuel to make it ignitereadily, and to then .burn it olf in the open air, or in the combustionchamber of some sort of a stove or furnace. l i

The accompanying drawing is a diagram illustrating the different stepsinvolved in my improved process of extracting a product`from elateriteor other similar'mineral deposits. 3

As reviously stated, the elaterlte 1s first groun or brokenup, `orotherwise reduced to comminuted form by any suitable machinery, or byhand if desired.- Next, the

elaterite thus pulverized or Vground is mixed with petroleum, "or any of the derivatives thereof, the quant-ity of oil or'h drocarbon necessaryfor this "purpose being simply ics ' with a liquid fuel the entire massignites at oni-:e and burns evenly. The elaterite thus prepared can thenbe burned in the open airr on a table or support, or it can be placed inthe combustion chamber of a suitably constructed stove or furnace.During such burning or combustion, the product melts and becomes viscousor semiviscous, but does not burn. All other elements or properties ofthe elaterite are burned up and consumed, passing off with the smoke andfumes of combustion, so that the product is the only thing left, therebeing practically no other solid' matter or by-products existing at thetime that the re goes out and the combustion ceases for want ofcombustible fuel. This melted product or 'residue shows amelting pointof about 125 centigrade; that is to say, when small or moderate sizedpieces are subjected to ordinary and Well known tests for this purposeunder atmospheric pressure. The melted product or rubber-like mass canbe gathered or discharged from the support on which the elaterite isburned, or can be recovered from the burningr mass in any suitable ordesiredmanner. It is then readiT for treatment after the fashion ofordinary rubber, being -readily susceptible to the ordinary vulcanizingrecesses, and when thus cured is.. suitable or use in various ways, suchas the manufacture of hard and oft rubber articles. I find also thatinstead of adding liquid fuel to the ground or comminuted elaterite, thesame can be heated or raised to comparatively high temperature, and thatit will then ignite readily and burn.

In its broader aspects, it will be seen that my invention relates tomany hydrocarbons of a solid or semi-solid nature. I have used myimproved process for the purpose of reining elaterite (sometimes calledwurtzilite), but it is obvious that the same process may be used forrefining or treating similar hydrocarbons. Preferably, as explained, theelaterite, wurtzilite or other crude material is rst ground orcomminuted or broken up in some suitable manner, so as to reduce it tosmall pieces, as I find that when allowed to remain in its crude form,or in relatively large pieces, it does not yield readilyto theherein-described process, as the liquid fuel used to facilitate theprocess will not penetrate deeply, and combustion is liable to ceasebefore all ofthe crude material has been properly treated. The round orcomminuted material is preferaby spread out on a flat surface, and therequisite amount of liquid fuel to be used can be readily determined.and can be varied according to the quality of the material and theparticular results desired. For general purposes. und in the treatmentof elaterite, or wurtzilite as it is sometimes culled,.twenty ('20)gallons of coul nil can be used toevery ton of crude material. and thisI find-gives very good results. The crude material being thus'set oufire will be. found to yield very readily and very quickly to theprocess, which latter, of course, is a progresslve one, and Where theheat is thus concentrated by direct combustion, the process progressesvery-rapidly and in a very etlicient manner. i When the materlal istreated by d1stilla.- tion, 1n the old manner, a milch longer period oftreatment is necessary. and the tem'- perature must be carefully judgedand controlled throughout the period of treatment. My improved process,however, is in one sense self-regulating, as after combustion is oncestarted there is then no further necessity for the exercise ofjudgment-or control on the part of the operator or attendant. After thematerial is once ignited, it then simply continues to burn until thedesired result is obtained, and there is no danger of the combustiontaking place too fast or too slow, and no necessity for any attempt tocontr'ol such combustion. When the ma ferial to be treated is elaterite(or wurtzilite) the result or product is quite different from that whichis obtained by distillation of the same materials in a retort orothersimilar apparatus. The product obtained by my improved process, whenused for treating elaterite or wurtzilite, is of dilferent chemicalcompisition from that obtained by said process ot distillation. being,for example, of much higher fusibilitv. An elaterite 'or wurtziliteproduct produced by my improved process will.l I find, when usedcommerciallj.v in small or moderate sized p'ieces, not flow or yield toany perceptible degree when'subjected to atmospheric-temperatures of 120centigrade. that is to say, it remains solid at any1 temperature .lowerthan this, whereby it is useful in many places and for many purposesWhere similar products produced by the old processes are not suitable.There are also other ways in which a product produced from elaterite orwurtzilite. b v my improved process. as herein described, is quitedifferent in chemical composition from those heretofore produced fromthe same kinds of crude material.

It will be seen, therefore, that I not only produce a process or methodof treatment which is entirely different. from anything heretoforeproposed for this purpose. but

that. I also produce a product which is diflll?) ferent from thoseheretoforeproduced,from materials of this kind. Obviously, therefore,`andregardless of whether the product is the saine or different, myinvention contemplates a new and elicient process for treatingmaterials. It also contemplatesan elaterite or Wurtzilite product whichis of different chemical composition than those heretofore produced fromsuch crude material. 1What I claim as my invention is:

1. The process of producing a Wurtzilite or elaterite product, whichconsists in grinding or comminuting the crude mineral, adding a. liquidvfuel thereto, burning the mix. ture in the open air, so that theatmosphere will have free access to all parts thereof, permittingthefire 'to` progress freely and as rapidly as possible until it goes outof its own accord, leaving the product in a melted condition, andallowing the said product to cool and harden.

2. The process of producing a: Wurtzilite or elaterite product, Whichconsists in inding or comminuting they crude mlneral, burning saidmineral in the open air, so that the atmosphere will have free access toall parts thereof, permitting the {i1-e to progress freely and asrapidly as possible until it goes out of its own accord, leaving theprod:

JAMES C. ROSS.

Witnesses ALBERT J. SAUBER, E. H. CLEGG.

